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If vintage fashion floats your boat mosey on down to the world’s favourite vintage fashion event, Frock Me! on Sunday 7 October at the Chelsea Town Hall, King’s Road, London. Approximately 50 specialists will be selling collections of vintage clothing and accessories including hats, shoes, gloves and jewellery alongside modern designer wear. This event attracts fashionistas, stylists, models, fashion students, collectors and costume designers for stage and film. Whatever era piques your interest, Frock me! has something to suit, with clothes ranging from one to several hundred pounds.
Those with a penchant for Burlesque can pick up basques, corsets, fans, feather boas and seamed stockings. One million tonnes of textiles get thrown away each year, so opting vintage is a great way of avoiding unnecessary waste, as well as circumventing the inevitable use of toxic dyes in most new garments. Samaya Ling Vintage Collections will be selling some beautiful fashion items at the October event. Kylie Minogue visited the last Frock Me! fair, so you can also do a bit of celebrity spotting while you are there.
Get in the mood for your summer holidays (if you haven’t already been and come back!) with some gorgeous hand-made, ethical, Hawaiian themed outfits from Muumuu Heaven, a family run business based in, you guessed it, Oahu, Hawaii. Muumuu Heaven began with the concept of creating beautiful, high quality products, whilst maintaining corporate and social responsibility and without creating a detrimental impact on the planet.
Muumuu Heaven contribute 1% FTP to help preserve Hawaii’s coral reefs, use vintage and recycled materials to avoid wasting fabric and the brand is a favourite with the Hollywood rich and famous. You can purchase items from the label online at BTC Elements and Shop Equita.
Ethical fashion newcomers, Si:su, established in July 2005 by Helen Stew, Hanneke Van Ryswyk and Rachel Bryan, have just launched their brand spanking new website at Si-su.com. Si:su was born out of the desire of its creators to launch an organic empire, which eventually manifested as an Oxfam Originals collection, crafted for their local store from vintage materials. The label is currently producing a range of womenswear, accessories and interior collections, entirely from vintage and recycled materials. Si:su are passionate about producing eco-friendly products from sustainable fabrics. On 8th July they took part in the Sustainable Urban Styles Today (SUST) show in Manchester, which featured a host of established ethical and aspiring ethical designers including: People Tree, Enamore, Think! and Snood. Si:su womenswear consists of two ranges (Pure and Bijou) with their own customised collections. The earth toned Pure range is, nostalgic, simple, pretty and practical to wear. The Bijou range is feminine and romantic, utilising luxurious satins and cottons, detailed with ribbon and lace. Si:su's designs are available at Allthingsgreen.net.
Further to my recent post about Miss Selfridge's vintage range, new items have now been added. They are getting snapped up pretty sharpish, so if you want to bag yourself a vintage number you'll have to be quick off the mark. Their latest line is 'Happy Days,' with some fabulously nostalgic pieces, such as: the Red and White Stripe Dress, £80, The Hawaii Printed Red Smock Top, £45 and the Blue and White Gingham Dress, £80 (a fantastic maxi length piece, for a coquettish milk maid look). New garments have also been added to the Guatemalan, Prom Queen and Psychedelic ranges. Here is a selection of the best buys.
1) Orange Embroidered Dress, £100 - 90% cotton, 10% other.
2) Red Chiffon Prom Dress, £120 - 90% chiffon, 10% other. 3) One Shoulder Puff Ball Dress, £90 - 90% acetate, 10% other. 4) Daisy Print Maxi Dress, £80 - 90% cotton, 10% other.
For sensational summer vintage fashion, you must check out (no, really you MUST) Deborah Lindquist, one of LA's most well respected and sought after environmentally conscious designers. I am really impressed with Deborah's collections. Embracing vintage clothing avoids contributing yet more waste to already overflowing landfill sites. For that reason, I wholly applaud vintage and recycled fashion.
According to WRAP, in the UK alone over one million tonnes of textiles are discarded every year. Opting for vintage and recycled fashion goes some way towards correcting our throw away culture (although there are many other areas to consider and still a very long way to go). For her designs, Deborah uses a combination of recycled cashmere, repurposed kimonos and saris, vintage silk scarves and sustainable materials, including: hemp, organic cotton and organic wool. As a Vegan I stay away from cashmere, silk and wool, but wearing vintage is better than buying new items made from these materials, which would otherwise be binned. Deborah Lindquist has an A-list following including the likes of: Sharon Stone, Gwen Stefani, Demi Moore and Charlize Theron and produces stunning garments that leave smaller imprints on the planet than mainstream fashion items. Trained at the Parsons School of Design, New York City, Deborah's avant-garde fashion has featured in a range of prominent publications such as: InStyle, Lucky Magazine, People and GenLux. It is hard for me to pick favourites, but somehow I have managed, so, here is my selection of hot summer garments, courtesy of Deborah Linquist. 1) #VFB - Vintage tropical floral bustier, $687.2) #BDL - Empire waistline long dress. Vintage sari fabric bodice embellished with semi-precious or crystal beads. English net and silk chiffon body with doubleface satin ribbon halter tie neck, $950.3) #LDH1 - Vintage kimono and hemp/cotton bustier dress with semi-precious beading, $775.4) #HBD - Hemp/cotton babydoll dress with raffia and organic cotton lace trim, $700.5) #SSK1 - Hemp/cotton pleated mini-skirt with organic cotton lace trim, $200.
Short dresses are in this summer, so if you are prepared to show your pins to the world, but want to adorn an ethical frock, Bahar Shahpar creates some beautiful summer dresses. Bahar is based in Brooklyn and is a self-taught designer with a background in multi-media event production, fashion and publishing. Her designs are produced locally, in New York, using only ethical materials and minimising waste and energy consumption as must as possible, in the process. Unbleached organic cotton linings are utilised in most garments. Bahar's collections manage to maintain a happy balance between style and substance, with the aim of producing clothing for the 'cultivated consumer.'
You can find some of her designs online at Cocosshoppe.com and while you're there check out all the other fantastic eco fashion labels. For more information about stockists see Bahar's website.
Jumping on the ethical fashion bandwagon, Laura Ashley have adapted a range of styles, prints and fabrics from the 1960's and 1970's, to produce a range of contemporary dresses, separates and accessories. All of these have been crafted from 100% organic cotton, so you can rest safe in the knowledge that these pieces are pesticide free. One of these pieces was a beautiful maxi-dress, which has unfortunately sold out (boo hoo), but my current favourites are: 1) The Floral Sprigs Keyhole Sundress, in a daisy print, for £42.2) The Sweet Rocket Halterneck Dress, in a vintage sprig print, for £48.3) The Humble Daisy Print Dirndl Skirt, in a heritage print, for £35. 4) The Large Cotton Bow Bag, in a vintage vine print for £24.
Miss Selfridge has searched the world's best vintage stores and markets from around the world, discovering some beautiful one off pieces that are available online only. Vintage clothing is ethical because it does not require new fabrics, that have been shipped around the world, to create new garments.
The collections currently available are Guatemalan, Prom Queen and Psychedelic. Many of them are sold out already, but there are still some great buys to be found, like the 1950's Pink Net Prom Dress for £180 and the Floral 60s Psychedelic Maxi Dress for £80. New lines are going to be added to the collections on 4th July, so don't fret if you have missed out this time. You can also sign up to Miss Selfridge's exclusive Vintage Newsletter, if you are keen to receive updates about this range.
